Obito dropped onto his butt.
"Mom..."
Kurenai and Rin clung to each other, trembling.
Ebisu was shaking all over.
Only Guy and Kakashi stood their ground.
But their faces had changed too.
This giant bear's pressure was more than ten times worse than the last one's.
The giant bear lowered its head and looked at the little bear lying on the ground.
Then it raised its head and looked at the group.
"ROAR—"
Its roar was ten times louder than before, painfully rattling their eardrums.
It raised a massive forepaw and swiped down at them.
"Scatter!"
Guy and Kakashi moved at the same time.
They darted off in opposite directions.
BOOM!!!
Its paw smashed a crater into the ground.
Kakashi landed and immediately formed Hand Seals.
"Clone Technique!"
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Three clones charged at the giant bear.
The bear swatted at them. Two clones burst into smoke.
The last one aimed for its eye.
The kunai bent.
The giant bear didn't even blink.
It swept its other paw across.
Kakashi flipped backward just in time. The paw skimmed his scalp, and the wind it kicked up stung his face.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"
A half-meter-thick earthen wall rose from the ground.
Thud!
The paw struck the wall, shattering it to pieces.
Guy seized the chance and charged in.
He leaped into the air.
"Leaf Hurricane!!"
Bam!!!
He kicked the giant bear's hind leg.
Its leg wobbled, but it didn't fall.
It turned its head, fixing its blood-red eyes on Guy.
Its other paw was already swinging toward him.
Guy couldn't dodge.
He crossed his arms and braced for the impact.
Thud—
He flew through the air like a ball.
He crashed through one tree, then another, and landed at the base of a third.
"Guy!!!"
Kurenai screamed.
Guy struggled to his feet. His whole body hurt, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
At least two ribs were cracked.
But he grinned.
"I'm fine... My Youth can still burn..."
The giant bear gave him no chance to catch his breath.
It dropped to all fours and charged toward them.
Each step made the ground tremble.
Kakashi gritted his teeth and hurled his shuriken.
They all bounced off.
His clones charged in.
The bear swatted them all away.
He was nearly out of chakra.
"Obito!!! Get the girls out of here!!!"
Obito was still sitting on the ground, his legs too weak to stand.
The giant bear rushed up to Guy.
It raised its enormous paw.
And brought it down.
Guy gritted his teeth and tried to dodge.
His legs wouldn't move.
His bones were broken. He couldn't muster any strength.
The paw drew closer.
Closer.
Then—
A small figure rushed over and stood in front of him.
Kurenai!
Her black curls flickered in the moonlight.
She spread her arms and squeezed her eyes shut.
"You're not allowed to hurt him!"
Guy's mind went blank with a buzz.
Time seemed to slow.
He saw Kurenai's back, so small and thin.
He saw the enormous paw, about to come down.
He saw Obito scrambling up from the ground, his face red and his eyes wide as a bull's.
He saw Kakashi charging over through gritted teeth, but he wouldn't make it in time.
He saw Rin covering her mouth, tears welling in her eyes.
Then—
He saw nothing.
Only a rush of heat exploded from his lower abdomen.
The Yijin Jing surged through his body, faster than ever before.
The warmth spread through him and poured into his legs.
A system notification sounded in his ears.
[An epiphany opportunity has been detected]
[Would you like to...]
Guy ignored it.
He didn't even hear it.
All he knew was that Kurenai was in front of him.
That paw was about to come down.
He had to kick.
He stood up.
His legs no longer hurt.
His bones had mended.
His blood was on fire.
His mind was a blank.
Only one thought remained.
Those ten thousand kicks.
Those hundred thousand kicks.
Those two hundred thousand kicks.
Every kick, every strike, every moment.
They all merged into one in this instant.
He took a step forward.
His right arm wrapped around Kurenai's waist and pulled her behind him.
He clenched his left fist and drew it back to his hip.
He raised his right leg.
Countless images flashed through his mind.
Dai demonstrating the Leaf Hurricane in front of a waterfall, his teeth gleaming.
The tree he'd kicked down in the mountains, splinters flying everywhere.
The training dummy he'd split in two, and the examiner's astonished face.
Kakashi saying, "You can't beat me," while he'd smiled and said, "But I'm not down yet."
White Fang standing at the school gate, tears streaming down his face.
And Dai's words.
"Protecting the people you care about matters more than becoming a jonin."
That was right.
Protecting the people he cared about.
His right leg—
Kicked out.
Slowly.
So slowly, it seemed to stop in midair.
And yet it was fast.
Fast enough to make the air scream.
In that moment, the world fell silent.
All that remained was his heartbeat.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
A light shimmered around his leg in midair.
A faint gold spread from the sole of his foot to his ankle, then up his calf.
Like a diamond.
Like a flame.
Like a power passed down through the ages.
[Vajra Leg—Mastery of Perfection]
His right leg suddenly grew ten times larger!
A massive golden leg appeared before Guy, matching his kicking motion exactly.
Its dazzling light illuminated the entire forest.
The air exploded.
BOOM—
It wasn't a sound.
It was the shriek of the air being torn apart.
The giant bear's paw was still in midair.
The golden leg had already slammed into its chest.
Thud—
The ten-meter-tall bear was hit as if by a train, struck by a Tailed Beast, crushed beneath a mountain.
Its enormous body flew through the air.
It soared over the stretch of forest it had smashed through.
It flew over the boulder.
And it flew ten meters.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
It slammed into the hillside, leaving a massive crater.
Half the hillside collapsed.
The giant bear lay motionless in the crater.
Silence.
The golden leg-shaped afterimage slowly faded.
Guy was still holding his kicking pose.
His right leg trembled slightly.
He took a deep breath.
Lowered his leg.
Stood straight.
He looked down at Kurenai.
She stared up at him, stunned.
Moonlight fell across her face. Tears glimmered in her eyes.
"Y-you okay?"
Guy grinned.
The movement tugged at the wound on his mouth, making him wince.
But he still gave her a thumbs-up.
His teeth gleamed.
Tears spilled down Kurenai's cheeks.
Then she lunged forward and threw her arms around him.
"You idiot!! You idiot!! You scared me to death!!"
Guy froze in her embrace.
He didn't know where to put his hands.
"Uh... this..."
A short distance away.
Obito's mouth hung open as he looked from the collapsed hillside to Guy.
"S-so this is Youth..."
Kakashi stood beside a tree.
He looked at the guy in green being hugged.
Then he looked at the giant bear that had been kicked dozens of meters away.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
"This monster..."
[Congratulations, host. You have comprehended the lower-grade secret technique, Vajra Leg, to the perfected level.]
[Obtained a random martial arts gift pack]
[Open it?]
With Kurenai holding him, Guy had no time to deal with the system.
But something stirred in his heart.
So this...
Was the effect of perfecting a martial technique.
So this...
Was what it felt like to protect someone.
He lowered his head and looked at the dark-haired head buried against his chest.
Her black curls were a little messy, quivering slightly.
He looked at the crater in the distant hillside.
Then he looked at his right leg, still trembling faintly.
He grinned.
Worth it.
So worth it.
"Guy."
Kakashi walked over.
Guy looked up.
"Yeah?"
Kakashi stared at him, silent for two seconds.
"That kick—"
He paused.
"Was that the Multi-Size Technique?"
Guy blinked.
Then he grinned without answering.
Instead, he gave Kakashi a thumbs-up.
"That was the power of Youth!!!"
Kurenai lifted her head from his chest, her face bright red.
But she didn't let go.
Obito finally found his voice and rushed over.
"You monster!!! You're definitely a monster!!! That bear was ten meters tall!!! You kicked it dozens of meters away with one kick!!! What even are you?!"
Rin nodded emphatically. "Compared to that Ninja Bear, Guy looks more like a beast in human form."
"Konoha's beast in human form?"
Kakashi tilted his head and sized Guy up.
"It fits, but it's a bit of an ugly name."
"I think Konoha's Vajra Beast would be better," Ebisu muttered.
That remark immediately struck a chord with the others.
Guy rolled his eyes helplessly.
Vajra Beast?
That nickname somehow sounded even worse than Guy's original title, the Blue Beast.
Still, he didn't mind.
One day, Guy's title as the Blue Beast would return to him.
He had no doubt about that.
Might Guy grinned.